The Last of the President's Men

After Mark Felt was outed as "Deep Throat" a decade ago, and Woodward printed an old memoir about Felt that he'd been saving for the occasion, I incorrectly predicted in this space that we'd seen "the last Watergate book". Whoops.Now, Woodward -- in a similar folksy style to his memoir about Felt -- tells the story of the man who revealed to the world the presence of Nixon's taping system, Alex Butterfield. Butterfield was not some "faithless aide" (to use the late Bill Safire's pointed description of John Dean), but rather an inside man who knew Nixon, the real Nixon, better than almost anyone. And Butterfield's revelation came out only after one of Nixon's characteristic Shakespearean blunders -- revealing a near-verbatim transcript of a private chat with Dean in order to discredit Dean's Senate testimony, which begged the question, how *did* Nixon get such precise notes about such a private chat? Without that mistake, perhaps no-one on the Senate committee ever asks Butterfield about a taping system... Butterfield was a reluctant witness against the President.This is basically Butterfield's book, which Woodward ghost-writes through extensive interviews with the man, and a peek at the documents that Butterfield took with him upon leaving the White House. We get amusing but sharply clear glimpses into figures long gone:Butterfield: Why don't you call yourself executive assistant? That makes your position clear to everyone.Haldeman: We don't want to make anything clear.Nixon is as much a tragic figure here was he was in previous Woodward/Bernstein books (most notable "The Final Days"). Butterfield is shocked by the man's social awkwardness, and his distant relationships with the First Lady for one thing -- in fact, 30+ years after leaving the White House and 20+ years after Nixon's death, he discusses these to the point where I began feeling sorry for Nixon. Stories about Nixon's failed attempts at dalliances with young White House staffers really should have been excluded after the first draft. But, even beyond Watergate, Butterfield and his documents also give us clearer insight into Nixon's failed Vietnam strategies, as we now get more detail about Nixon's paranoid response to the My Lai revelations, and later carpet-bombing initiatives. Turns out, even Nixon admitted in writing that the bombing was a failure, but kept it up anyway, for political reasons of his own... We also learn more about Nixon's bungled attempts to bring about peace in the Middle East through his connections with King Hussein; Golda Meir also has some amazing lines in the book, which she probably wasn't even aware were being recorded ...Of course, it's not all one-sided, as Woodward also tells us exactly what he did like about Nixon, and is Butterfield is still clearly conflicted about his role in the events that triggered Nixon's eventual resignation. Of course, we learn that Nixon himself didn't even seem to mind Butterfield's revelations about the tapes. At least, not at first.Nixon: Maybe Alex Butterfield has done us a favor. These tapes will be exculpatory.Whoops.

I saw an interview of Bob Woodward and Alexander Butterfield on BOOK NOTES on C=Span...I was so inspired, I got up and ordered this book. I was NOT disappointed.Why, oh why did Butterfield wait so long to share his story! This was a gripping saga. He was 'on the inside' and had privy to such amazing moments during a time of 'great trouble.' Watergate still has my head spinning 40 years after the fact!This book is worth the price for the story of Nixon attending a Birthday Party, held in the Fish Room / in the West Wing, near the Oval Office. What the President did and said was so shocking I read, re-read, read-aloud and even phoned a friend to read the story to him. (Icould NOT believe the words on the page.) It was dumbfounding.Butterfield's story of witnessing Nixon's actions aboard Marine One (the President's copter) and what he did to a couple of secretarieshinted at...well, let's just say it was a PRONOUNCED HINT. This flight proved to be embarrassing, pitiful, telling, sick, sad and rude. I never would have suspected it of 'him.'Buy the book. Buy a Highlighter too to mark the revelations you'll want to quote later. This is another book that proves HISTORY IS NEVER OVER...

“As the person who was supposed to make sure departing White House aides left their official papers behind, Butterfield had witnessed many senior aides taking dozens of boxes. There was no good way to tell what was personal and what was technically official. So when it was his turn, Butterfield too carted off boxes of files and documents. ‘I just took my boxes of stuff and left,’ he recalled.” – page 143By his own admission Alexander P. Butterfield joined the Nixon administration through an unlikely confluence of circumstances. Butterfield had been classmates with Bob Haldeman at UCLA in the mid-1940s. Though Alex and Bob had lost touch their girlfriends, who would ultimately become their wives, were sorority sisters at the college and still exchanged Christmas cards. In late November 1968 Butterfield, one of the top fighter pilots in the U.S. Air Force, was serving a gig in Australia and desperately seeking a more challenging assignment. When Alex discovered that his old college chum was running Richard Nixon’s transition team the wheels began to turn. Perhaps there was a spot in the administration for a man with his credentials. Little did he know that in less than eight weeks he would begin a new chapter in his life as Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States. Bob Woodward chronicles the improbable relationship between Butterfield and Richard Nixon in his marvelous new book “The Last of the President’s Men.” Culling new information from Mr. Butterfield’s stash of documents and files, Woodward sheds new light on the Nixon administration. I could not put this one down.More than four decades after these events took place Alexander Butterfield recalls in painstaking detail his interactions with the President. He confirms what we have learned from so many other friends and colleagues of Richard Nixon—he was an odd and complex man. According to Woodward “In the first months he was finding some things to admire in Nixon—the work ethic, snatches of empathy, the determined, focused effort so evident in nearly everything he did. The humanity barely emerged, and Nixon was quickly becoming the oddest man he had ever known.” Among other things we learn of a fiendish plot hatched by Nixon to spy on Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy and of the origins of the White House taping system that would ultimately come back to bite him. Needless to say the President’s motivation was anything but noble. But even more disturbing than all of that the Butterfield documents reveal that both the President and Secretary of State Kissinger had been lying about the effectiveness of our bombing raids in Vietnam over the course of the war. The appendix at the end of the book includes more than 75 pages of documents, files and memos from Butterfield’s archive. They prove to be a real eye-opener.“The Last of the President’s Men” is a well-written and meticulously documented book that is an extremely important addition to the historical record. By making these documents public for the very first time Alexander Butterfield has performed a tremendous public service. In addition, Woodward conducted more than 46 hours of taped interviews with Butterfield in order to add detail and context to the written record. I thought that Bob Woodward’s presentation was thorough, fair and balanced. This is a must read for history buffs, political junkies and general readers alike. Recommended.

Bob Woodward is a famous journalist and author famous, with Carl Bernstein, for publicising the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon. This short book explores the role of Alex Butterfield who as assistant to Nixon had the infamous taping system installed that confirmed the president's criminal involvement in the Watergate cover-up. The revelations of Nixon's personal awkwardness when meeting people for the first time is staggering for a man who was at the centre of American politics for over a generation. These accounts alone are worthy of the read. An easy one day read.

A real pry into the devious workings of the White House when scandal is on the horizon. A psychiatrist would have had a field day with Nixon - especially with regard to his paranoia. Why he ever put a tape system in the Oval Office is anybody's guess especially when he knew what shinanikins he was up to. Nixon's aid Butterfield (the subject of the book) is the one who spilled the beans about the tapes.

If you are familiar with Bob Woodward's work, it will be no surprise that this book is filled with fascinating facts and insights based on first hand and open recollections of Alexander Butterfield - and it is written in a eminently readable style. It is a detailed, informative and genuine perspective of one of historiy's great insiders into one of history's most interesting men - both touching and frightening.

Ordered as one of multiple Woodward books to use as holiday reads so still working through the list

Just as you'd expect from Bob Woodward - factual and precise. Coould have done without all the cross-referencing.